1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a fan, more particularly relates to a fan having a structure firmly holding a lead wire.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, fans are used for various applications. For example, an electronic device may have a cooling fan to dissipate heat to an outside of the casing of the electronic device. A copying machine may include a suction fan to feed papers.
Generally, the fan includes a motor which has a rotor and a stator, an impeller which has a plurality of blades arranged around the rotor, and a housing which radially surrounds the impeller, a base supporting the motor in the housing. The fan also includes wires to supply electricity to the motor, and the wires extend from a circuit board arranged in the fan to an outside of the housing. Recently, dimensions of the electronic devices are getting smaller and smaller. Correspondingly, an available space to arrange electronic components and/or the fan is getting smaller and smaller.
Conventionally, the wires extend from the circuit board into a radially outside direction and cross a passage of air flow defined by an inner surface of the housing. The wires led to the housing are received in a wire-receiving section of the housing before being led out of the housing of the fan. In the conventional fan, the wires are not firmly held on the housing, and therefore, the wires may go slack and be lifted from an end surface of the housing when an external force is applied thereto. In some case, the wire may come out of the wire-receiving section. When the fan is installed to the electronic device, the slack wire or the wire coming away from the wire-receiving section may get caught with other electronic components, which may result in damaging the other electronic components and/or breaking the wire. Therefore, the wire should be firmly held, otherwise the slack wire may be an obstacle to installing the fan into the electronic device or may cause damage to the electronic device.
Conventionally, a part of the wires are housed in the wire-receiving section, and a bushing member is attached to the wire-receiving section to press the wires against the housing to hold the wires, such that the wires do not protrude from the end surface of the housing. In the conventional fan, the bushing member is attached to the wire guiding groove to make a gap between the bushing and a part of the housing defining the wire-receiving section narrower than outer diameters of the wires so as to pinch the wires therebetween. However, an excessive force may be applied to the wires, resulting in damaging or breaking the wires.